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Intentional Leadership — D1, W4, M9 — Attitude

This last week of month 9, we are going to focus on the power of your attitude. As Thomas Jefferson once observed,

Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.

Are you familiar with the story of Christopher Gardner? If you’ve seen the movie, The Pursuit of Happyness, you will recognize it. Gardner lost it all — his wife, his home, and family savings in a bad business investment. He was living on the streets with his son when he entered a competitive stock broker internship program, which, by the way, offered no pay for six months. Determined to prove himself and provide his son a good quality of life, we went on to become  a top performer for Bear Stearns, and eventually opened his own firm with offices in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. He also has become a motivational speaker and philanthropist who has received numerous humanitarian awards.

Imagine what would have happened to him and his son if he had given up when he found himself on the street. We read the stories every day, and there are numerous possible outcomes to this kind of story, and few of them are good. Had he adopted a negative attitude, not only would his and his son’s lives be very different, but so would the lives of the many people he’s helped since he dusted himself off and got to work.*

I know we don’t like to spend a lot of time in consideration of the times when we’ve failed, but they are gems in terms of lessons learned. Spend some time today considering a failure you’ve experienced in your personal life and in your professional life. Describe them.

What attitude did you take in response to these failures?

What happened as a result?

Looking back on it now, how would you say your attitude served you?

 

*From Intentional Leadership by Giant Impact. 

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Intentional Leadership — D3, W3, M9 — Attitude

Let’s focus on others for a bit. Take some time today to notice others who demonstrate a positive attitude and acknowledge it. At the end of the day, send a personal note (hand-written would be much more powerful, but email would suffice, if you must!) to the one person whose attitude stood out the most.

At the end of the day, answer these questions:

How did it make you feel when you went the extra mile to recognize people with a positive attitude?

How do you think it made them feel, especially the person who received your note?

Do you think they will be more likely to display the same kind of attitude more often around you and others? Why?

When you are int he midst of difficult circumstances, do you think making small positive choices such as recognizing others’ attitudes will make a difference in your own life?

I’m certainly not perfect in this area; like most people, there are times when life gets to me, and it’s reflected in my attitude and demeanor. I try to catch myself and make an adjustment quickly, as I know it’s my choice. I try to be mindful throughout the day that my attitude has the potential of making or crashing someone else’s day, and I’d much prefer to be well thought of when I’ve taken my leave…which means to me I need to focus on and demonstrate a positive attitude. I have to say, that on those occasions I grudgingly have pushed myself to adjust and do or say something nice, I’ve immediately felt better for the effort.

Let me know how it works for you.

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Intentional Leadership — D2, W3, M9 — Attitude

What’s going on in your life and/or work right now that you know you need to deal with, but your actions might be interpreted as preferring to ignore reality?

Get your journal out and briefly describe the situation and the challenge you face.

Dig deep and come to terms with why you don’t want to address the issue…Write it out.

Describe what could happen if you address the issue.

What impact might it have on your life? The lives of those around you? Your team? Your Organization?

Describe what can happen if you choose to not address the issue.

What are the risks, implications, consequences of not acting?

What action steps can you take in order to bring resolution to this challenge?

What would happen in your life if you consistently made choices to address issues like this?

How would that affect your attitude when you face similar situations/challenges in the future?

For me, there’s a level of satisfaction in addressing the things I don’t want to address but know that I need to. I don’t mean to confuse this with pleasure — as it isn’t necessarily fun, but there is satisfaction in tackling the hard and sometimes unpleasant stuff.

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